Exploring the Hudson Valley: Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve
Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve



The good news is that you don’t have to travel far to find good bike trails near Vassar (the kind with biker-built ramps/jumps/hair-raising turns/etc.); the bad news is that bikes from Vassar’s shared bike program turned out to be better on the road than the trails. Word to the wise: wear a helmet if you plan on returning to campus in one piece! Otherwise, you might want to stick to the hiking trails instead. (Ummm–definitely do a tick check when you come back.)
The Vassar Farm, located across Hooker Avenue from the campus, is an over 500-acre tract of land (that’s really big!) used for sports events (mainly rugby), hiking, biking, and a popular program called the Poughkeepsie Farm Project that allows members to pick their own farm-grown fruits and vegetables. If you can’t get a membership, try to make friends with someone who has one and then convince them to let you try their strawberries!